Best software and/or configuration for Hi-Fi music and video

Hello! First of all I have a HTPC that works fine, using Zoomplayer with several different codecs in order to try and get the best video and audio I can get - but I mainly use ffdshow and CoreAVC, Reclock (my plasma doesn't support 24fps) and Zoomplayer as frontend (except for DVDs, I have to use Cyberlink DVD player, can't get Zoomplayer to work properly).

My HTPC is connected through optical to a Denon AVR 2106 with Monitor Audio silver and bronze speakers (5.1) and a Panasonic TH-42PY70 plasma. My HTPC has a 8800GT video card, no sound card, quad core processor and 4GB memory (I use it for occasional gaming too).

I guess many of you have similar setups and I'm quite happy about it but what's your experience between different music and video codecs to get the best quality possible (bit for bit image and sound)? Or should I let the amplifier to the job, even if it means losing some frames with 24fps sources?

Let me give you an example for which I don't have an answer - would it be better to configure AC3/DTS passthrough using SPDIF or ffdshow audio (or another codec) does a better job than using the amplifier to decode the sound?

Finally, what are the best codecs for HD sound? My amplifier doesn't support the newest sound codecs...

Thank you for your answers! This is the very best forum to read and learn.

Regards,
Bruno

Hi there, thanks for your reply. I used that combination but I noticed that in some 24fps sources I had jerky playback sometimes and with reclock it becomes almost unnoticable (although it is still there). To use reclock I can't use spdif out propoerly so I have to decode using ffdshow.

I can't seem to detect any changes in sound quality using ffdshow decoder or using spdif out directly but that doesn't mean that I'm not gtting the best out of it - my video and audio sources may not be the best to test it. An I'm also asking this opinion mainly because I want to upgrade my dvd drive to a bluray one and I want to get the best out of it.

Regards and thank you for your answer!